I don't know what "Soybean sauce, tamari" is. (Here we go again) Is it soysauce? Is Bragg's Aminos ok?

Holy Basil is an herb used for stress and immune support, why would it be in the Condiments/Additives section? (Don't you wish I would go away)

And while I'm at it, is there any condiment left worth putting on a salad or sandwich? Assuming there is anything left to make a sandwich of. I don't think I did well with spelt bread. Turkey on a rice cake is not a sandwich but it would taste better with a condiment... not honey thank you.

I really think that homemade mayo - made with egg yolks and lemonjuice and oil is lovely and something that should be ok after 3 months - due to the egg *dot rating-but Iīm not following the advice on eggs so

Cream cheese is nice.I make it myself :I use organic sourcream without anything but cream and milk bacteria I mix the 18 % and the 38 % ( That are the ones we get here) I find it too fatty if I just use the 38 % one and too tart if I just use the 18 % )

- and put it into a cheese cloth and let is drip /drain-I add a little bit of sea salt - maybe herbs and it is very good

yeah, I refused to give up vinegar and hence mayo on BTD... I won't give it up for GTD either... I'd rather live 10 years less, than live 40 without mayo...

I give it up because it hurts my tummy. I ate it for YEARS back in my hardcore dieting days and now I have tons and tons of white lines on my fingers and have quite a bit of osteoarthritis in my thumb joints and neck and knees and I'm not that old to be having all that.

Of course it wasn't just the vinegar but the vinegar messes with my tummy and that causes inflammation.

Not trying to change your mind about what you eat but I've heard there is a compliant olive oil mayo...

If you look there are alternatives. There is so much food in the world to eat that I'm shocked every day now that I am switching to alternatives I like and can put down the old things that are not good for me.

For me it's ok not to live 10 more years but the years I do have I want to be healthy. I don't want to end up crippled with diseases I could have done something about if I just made a few dietary changes.

'Fish sauce (nam pla): The most essential cooking ingredient for Thai food is perhaps fish sauce. This is Thailand's equivalent to soy sauce or table salt. Uncooked it has an unpleasant smell, but it adds a subtle flavor, for which there is no substitute. Small anchovy fish are fermented and the resulting liquid is strained and bottled.

Add a bit more fish sauce at the end of cooking to adjust to taste and cook a minute longer. This is perhaps the most important ingredient in Thai cooking, so give it a chance by all means. The key to appreciating it is to buy only the best quality fish sauce available. Look for clear amber colored liquid with no sediment.'

And on the same page is information about Holy Basil:

'Holy basil (bai grapow) There are two types of holy basil: a pale green or white type, and a red type, with purple reddish tinged leaves. Holy basil has a clove-like taste. Store wrapped in a paper towel inside a ziplock bag. Use it soon after buying. Available more readily in summer months, Bai graprow can be difficult to find, but check our online grocery for availability. Or try growing it yourself.'

Yes, Thai fish sauce is kind of like soy sauce in taste. Good point! I used to use Golden Boy brand. The ingredients are: Anchovy fish, water, salt, and sugar.

Thanks for that info Novelia. If you can find one without sugar, looks like it might be a viable alternative for explorers. In time it might work for me, as anchovy is black dot for gatherers - all I need to do is find one without sugar...... might take me the 3-6 months to do that!!!

Didn't think about the sour cream and cream cheese. I may even try a little avocado since itís a black dot food (BDF?). Fish sauce, mayo recipe! This is very good!

One of the things about the soy sauce/tamari question, is it the soy thatís the problem? Soybeans are a no-no for Explorers. Or could it be the fermentation? We are warned in the book about molds, page 155 under Explorer Diet Doníts. Until I hear otherwise Iím going to continue using the tamari and hold onto hope for Tamari being ok.

It occurred to me that the base for ranch dressing is mayo and buttermilk, at least in some recipes Iíve seen. After a few months, because buttermilk is a BDF and the eggs in mayo are a BDF, I could use the vinegar free mayo with a little buttermilk to make a ranch type dressing to use sparingly. Don't wanna get too many BDFs, right?

It looks pretty clear to me that tamari is an avoid along with soysauce or anything else soy for that matter. I only used it on my rice, but have been adding a dash of onion and garlic powder, a little thyme and some ginger with tasty enough results.

I believe all these fermented proteins like natto and soy and fish sauces have lots of glutamic acid which is now an avoid. Dr Garry Gordon has looked into this too I seem to remember in order to counter effect glutamic acid you could supplement with lipoic acid.

Very interesting, Proto! I couldn't find the lipoic acid information. Do you recall if he recommends using it to stop glutamic acid induced migraines?

The article was on autism and what he calls excitotoxins like free form glutamic acid and aspartic acid. Some form of sulphur was mentioned to aid processing these toxins so I guess I came up with alpha lipoic acid as one. Regular people were said to convert glutamic acid into feel good GABA. Dr. D recommends ALA to GTD warriors to turn down thrifty genes so maybe it makes explorers underweight I used to be such kind just some time ago.

I give it up because it hurts my tummy. I ate it for YEARS back in my hardcore dieting days and now I have tons and tons of white lines on my fingers and have quite a bit of osteoarthritis in my thumb joints and neck and knees and I'm not that old to be having all that.

Of course it wasn't just the vinegar but the vinegar messes with my tummy and that causes inflammation.

Not trying to change your mind about what you eat but I've heard there is a compliant olive oil mayo...

If you look there are alternatives. There is so much food in the world to eat that I'm shocked every day now that I am switching to alternatives I like and can put down the old things that are not good for me.

For me it's ok not to live 10 more years but the years I do have I want to be healthy. I don't want to end up crippled with diseases I could have done something about if I just made a few dietary changes.

Vinegar isn't an avoid for gatherers. Canola is a black dot avoid, sugar avoid. I've switched to a canola/olive oil blend mayo. I tried a sugar free ketchup that was disgusting. Adding agave didn't help at all. I may try to make my own ketchup and mayo later- but I sure as heck am not making any with lemon juice.

However, I am cutting back on my sugar. And I will try sugar subs in recipes. But I am not a legalist in my faith or my diet.

The article was on autism and what he calls excitotoxins like free form glutamic acid and aspartic acid. Some form of sulphur was mentioned to aid processing these toxins so I guess I came up with alpha lipoic acid as one. Regular people were said to convert glutamic acid into feel good GABA. Dr. D recommends ALA to GTD warriors to turn down thrifty genes so maybe it makes explorers underweight I used to be such kind just some time ago.

That's very interesting again! To clarify, you took alpha lipoic acid supplements and became underweight?

No, not really as I was underweight already before taking up ALA. The supplement is said to be very good for your A-type liver according to BTD encyclopedia etc. and my skin tone used to be rather yellow which may indicate a problem. I'm mostly happy with BTD as I'm now just barely of normal weight and my level of energy is up but still suffer recurrent stomach cramps and some skin problems so therefor will try to migrate towards GTD. Came to think that possibly also fermented dairy may also be to be avoided due to free glutamic acid so it pays to be careful if shopping for whey protein or such as it may be hydrolysed which again is more or less the same as fermented.

My skin tone is rather yellow now partly because I deposit carotene from foods in my skin. I don't think I absorb it properly. I'll read about alpha lipoic acid. I used to take it years ago. Maybe it's time to take it again.

Have you eliminated wheat/gluten in your diet? That can cause stomach cramps and other problems. So can dairy of course. I had to give up both gluten grains and dairy. I used to make my own yogurt and ate high quality grains (I was making my own bread) and dairy but it wasn't okay for me.

The supplement is said to be very good for your A-type liver according to BTD encyclopedia etc. and my skin tone used to be rather yellow which may indicate a problem. I'm mostly happy with BTD as I'm now just barely of normal weight and my level of energy is up but still suffer recurrent stomach cramps and some skin problems so therefor will try to migrate towards GTD. Came to think that possibly also fermented dairy may also be to be avoided due to free glutamic acid so it pays to be careful if shopping for whey protein or such as it may be hydrolysed which again is more or less the same as fermented.

We'll we get some excellent 100% rye bread here just about everywhere and I haven't been able to resist a couple of slices now and then. But that's about it as far as gluten goes. Some oat milk almost daily with decaff coffee or coffee substitute. Very little dairy as suggested for non-sec BTD. Perhaps it's just in my bio rhythm or whatever:-pAbsolutely hooked to some soy food and now I'm trying to kick the habit. Jaundice may have been due to tons of apricots and spinach that has went down. I even used to drink carrot juice daily years ago. Some slight inclination to food addictions maybe.

Explorers, I have a question I want to pose to you all. Given you're all following anExplorer diet, I need to understand the process for choosing one type over anotherwhen my blood type, rh status and secretor status doesn't match an Explorer but otherissues DO. I'm type A positive secretor. My head isn't round. I don't fit the physicalprofile of an Explorer. I measure as a Warrior.

I have most of the "issues" of an Explorer. I do not tolerate caffeine. Dr. D says that ifyou don't tolerate caffeine, you are almost always an Explorer.

I have awful problems detoxing chemicals. I can walk into a room where someoneis smoking or even breathe smokey odors on someones clothes and for hours afterwards,I smell the smoke in my head. it happens with a lot of odors. I have food allergies andreact to things most people don't. SO, I do fit many issues of a slow detoxifier which is why I've always taken milk thistle and many of those Explorer supplements like NAG and artichoke leaf. I was anemic as a child which is an Explorer weakness.

My ring fingers on both hands are longer than my index. I haven't done the fingerprinttesting nor do I know my prop status. Could either of those two factors give me theinfomation that would clear up this confusion for me? I measured my body many times and measure as a Warrior.

If I'm off on my torso length (which is possible), it might change my status but I'm notsure if it would make me an Explorer. I've been eating like a Warrior for the past 10 days. It's not terrible, but it's not really feeling right. I keep going back to the type A diet which feelsmost balancing.

My head isn't round and when an example of Hilary Clinton's body was used to describea Warrior, I thought to myself "well, she IS pear shaped like me". AND I had I conceivedwith two children really easily so I must be unusually fertile. That is a Warrior quality.

I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine myself eating goat, mutton, rabbit or lamb. I usedto feel ready to vomit as a child thinking my mother was making lamb chops.The smell oflamb is absolutely revolting to my senses. I am a semi vegetarian who has been eating fish and turkey (rarely) And i'm allergic to dairy, eggs and am gluten intolerant. So, if we haveto call me a Warrior, the elimination of all meats seems truly perfect. Out of all meatson the Explorer list, I always seem to think I'd be fine on liver. I love liver but avoid itbecause my cholesterol was always too high. And liver is high in cholesterol.

I've aged very gracefully as would an Explorer and Warriors seem to have a mid life rebellion which I can't relate to.

When I first read the book, I chose myself to be an Explorer immediately, but when I postedmy secretor status, my rh factor, I was told based on that alone, I could NOT be an Explorer.

I feel like a person without a real genotype home. I cannot find myself feeling totallycomfortable within this genotype divide until I have conclusive evidence I am specificallyone type or another.

Any suggestions for how to definitively chose between an Explorer or a Warrior?

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything.....they know how to make the best of everything!"

A+Secretors can only be Teachers or Warriors. If you measure as a Warrior, then that is what you are. Your torso/leg, upper leg/lower leg, and ring/index finger ratios, plus your BT and secretor status, definitively give your genotype. The rest of the factors are interesting to know about yourself but they don't change your genotype.

I've got lots of the sensitivity issues of an explorer too, but I am most definitely a teacher. And I am glad.

Embracing my A-ness! † †(Ok, that is waaaay better in print than it is out loud! † † †)